Now with dday update below the fold.
I’ll remember Chris as the Democrat who was almost there.
Almost there on FISA. Almost there on the Bailout. Almost there on Health Care. A guy who made some of the right noises but was ultimately betrayed by Qusiling Democrats like Barack Obama, Rahm Emanuel, Tim Geithner, and Larry Summers.
People will bring up Countrywide one more time, but there is no there there. The deal he got from them was the same Bankster shafting anyone else got with a little more suck up.
VIP? Yeah, look at the terms and you’ll see it’s like being a VIP at Blockbuster. Just another piece of plastic to stuff in your wallet.
But there is no denying it was going to hurt. What electioneering I’ve done over the past few months has been for him and I was twisting arms I shouldn’t have had to.
Blumenthal is Joe Lieberman II. Seriously.
A self righteous oily prick of a pol who’d stab you in the back for a dime or a dirty dishrag if he happened to need one. No improvement at all.
That said he is unbeatable and if you’d asked me six months ago what I wanted to happen in Nutmeg Land (which I’ll remind you got the nick because we’re happy to sell you a lump of wood and call it Nutmeg) it would have been Blumenthal v. Rell.
That would have been a tough one because she has underserved popularity too, but Dick proved 4 years ago he was too cowardly to challenge her directly.
What we have instead is Jodi retiring for reasons I don’t understand while Ned waltzes into 990 Prospect Av. and while that’s not a bad thing, it’s a waste of his talents. Oily Dick will go to a Village that appreciates his dubious dignity and negotiable principles (none of which are progressive). And Linda and Rob will just have to pound sand because there is a limit to how many people still think wrestling is real or that teabagging does anything but suck balls.
So, after all that, really Democrats are in pretty much the same position: demonstrably worse in ND-Sen, demonstrably better in CT-Sen, a bit worse in MI-Gov, perhaps a bit better in CO-Gov. But the timeline of these retirements, coming all at once, will further a narrative about it being a Republican year and Democrats are running away from the fight.
Meanwhile, perhaps the biggest resignation yesterday was from Florida GOP Chair Jim Greer, signaling that Charlie Crist may not survive a primary with tea party champion Marco Rubio in the state. And Republicans still have more retirements in the Senate and in the House.
I think more than anything, this signals how bad a position incumbents are in this year. And it is a shame to lose Dorgan and Dodd, who both deserved a bit better than this.
My emphasis.
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I don’t think this is good news, but I haven’t seen much of that recently so I may be prejudiced.
…. can bail off the side of the cliff
get pushed over the precipiceduring one day’s news cycle ?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!news at all. Dorgan is also retiring, although that may open the door for a more progressive Dem to step up in ND.
I’m not familiar with Blumenthal.
Rell is the governor and is not running for anther term. Was this because she was gopng to rin for the Senate?
I believe. Anybody know how he’s doing?
are accepting the canard that Dodd was unpopular because of the scandals erupting around him. How do they not realize that he is unpopular because he was the Chair of the Senate Banking Committee when they passed TARP? It must just be a case of willful ignorance.
According to Think Progress Blumenthal to announce today
… fought for CEO paypackets in the 90’s? After that experience, I always take “almost there” to be posturing without actually taking effective action.